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Seventeen year-old Gwendolyn Frantz, of Kensington, Md., stands in front of the White House during a student protest for gun control, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

AP

Seventeen year-old Gwendolyn Frantz, of Kensington, Md., stands in front of the White House during a student protest for gun control, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

AP

AP

Seventeen year-old Gwendolyn Frantz, of Kensington, Md., stands in front of the White House during a student protest for gun control, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The school shooting in Parkland, Florida was and is devastating. 17 innocent lives were lost.

What came out of the tragedy, though, was something unexpected: students united and a movement to demand their voices to be heard was born. The Stoneman-Douglas high school students’ motto is that their school shooting will be the last mass shooting. The Parkland student survivors movement to end gun violence is called #NeverAgain.

These kids banded together with their community to push for change and for gun control. Since the shooting, a CNN town hall has been held where notable figures such as Senator Marco Rubio and NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch.

The movement did not stop there, a nationwide school walkout was held on March 14, and Parkland survivors have continued to discuss reform and policy with politicians and even with President Trump.

A few impressive voices have stood out during this movement. Some of these are David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez who delivered a passionate and compelling speech following the shooting.

Xavier students shared opinions about #NeverAgain, gun regulation, and on how to make Xavier safer. It is interesting to note that some students recognize that this issue remains a hard one–so difficult, in fact, that they wished to be unnamed. One student who did not want to be identified stated, “I am really proud that our generation, especially those kids are standing up for their lives and what they believe in. I do think we should have better gun regulations in general. I do not think that in this specific situation guns are the problem. I feel like it was people not doing their job correctly. The shooter was on the radar but no one tried to prevent it by offering services. Therefore I feel as if people paid more attention and recognized how great of a threat he actually was then there wouldn’t have been a shooting. (For Xavier) I feel that we need much more security. As well as school ID’s that can clarify who we are, as we are driving in.”

Kevin Tang shared, “I think the Parkland movement is great, and while I don’t agree with all of their agenda such as gun control, I do believe that if I had gone through the same situation as those students, I would probably change my opinion on guns. As for Xavier, I wouldn’t mind seeing an armed guard and maybe metal detectors and more gates. We only have one “barrier” which is the fence and almost anyone can drive into the school. But at PDCMS there’s like extra locked gates before you get into the school grounds Also a side note: take the students addresses out from the Renweb directory. That’s a huge safety risk in my opinion.”

And a second student who spoke on the promise of anonymity as well, stated, “I think it is awesome to see how powerful our generation is and how big a difference we can make. I think their movement is inspirational in showing people to use their voice! I support the 2nd amendment and our right to have guns. However, obviously, something needs to change in our legislation to make our society safer. So I think there should be a more complex and in-depth process for legally getting a gun. We need the PA system throughout all areas of the school. There are lots of places where you can’t hear the PA at Xavier which can be dangerous in many situations.